Schützenpanzer

"Schutzenpanzer

This is the ultimate book on German armored personnel carriers in World War Two. It covers both German armored troop transport types, the Sd.Kfz.251 and Sd.Kfz.250 series of which most of more important types are shown in 5-view scale drawings by renowned artist Uwe Feist. Aside from the authoritative text, the period photos show actual examples of the vehicles in action on all fronts where they saw service. The 320 superlative photos (most of them not previously published),contained in this book are very high quality images on quality paper.

This outstanding title from the renowned Ryton series on armor is dedicated to the Sdkfz. 250/251 WW II German Half-track.

Bruce Culver, Uwe Feist
Hardcover 230pp 320 photos 7 colour plates Line drawings"

source: www.worldwartwobooks.com

Ryton's publications certainly have an important place in a library of reference, but ultimate might be a little too optimistic.
This is a nicely presented book with a nice high printing standard. It's large format allows for photos to be presented in a size and clarity that few other books acheive. Something that has always been a drawcard for me.
Although Uwe Feist includes alot of line drawings of variants, they really need to be scrutinized and compared to others before you place any great reliance on them.
Unfortunately, I think the greatest shortcoming of Ryton's books are the text. There seems to be too many statements that don't ring true to make this any more than a visual reference for me.
Like Nuts & Bolts in their time, Ryton's publications held the stage and set a standard in German Armour reference that the genre sorely lacked.
This is, without a doubt, a very nice volume on the Schutzenpanzer. It does suffer the same issue of most other similar books, which is it concentrates far more on the medium 251, without much of a balance for the light 250.
Schutzenpanzer definitely holds it's own for a place in an extended library of reference on the subject.

I have had this one on my "I definitely want"-list, but the price always kept it at that list and never in my bookcase.
Is it really worth the quite sizeable investment or is it wiser to go for other, less financially demanding, books?

Depends on what you want out of it. I love the large format and the Ryton books always maintain a good standard of printing. Something a number of publishers can really let lapse at times which is a real slap in the face when you've forked out alot of money for one of their titles. I've found Schiffer to be up and down in this way.
Although I certainly don't have everything on the list here, if you let me know what you have, if i have it I can let you know how it compares.

well, so far I have:
Panzer Tracts 15-2 and 15-3 (with 15-1 coming shortly, I hope)
Waffen Arsenal 32
the 2 Squadron books
Century tracks from France
Osprey's book (the old version)
Schützenpanzerwagen from Podzun-Pallas
and
Total Detail on the 250-serie

I can't help you out as much as I'd hoped I'm afraid. I don't have any of the Squadron Signals or the Osprey books, and i've never seen a couple of the others.
This is what I have that deals with German Halftracks. The list on the forum has certainly given me alot to have a look at.

Deutsche Flak-Selbstfahrlafetten auf Fahrgestellen der Halbkettenkraftwagen 1939 - 1945: Waffen Arsenal
Die Zugkraftwagen Der Deutschen Wehrmacht 8-12t: Waffen Arsenal
Halbketten- Fahrzeuge des Deutschen Heeres 1909-1945: Motorbuch Verlag - Spielberger/Doyle
Leichter Schuetzenpanzerwagen: (Sd.Kfz. 250) Ausf. A & B: Panzertracts
Mittlere Schuetzenpanzerwagen (Sd.Kfz.251):Panzertracts
Mittlere Schuetzenpanzerwagen (Sd.Kfz.251) Ausf. C & D: Panzertracts
Schutzenpanzer: Ryton
Schutzenpanzer 1: Ground Power
Schutzenpanzer 2: Ground Power
Schutzenpanzer 3: Ground power
Schwerer Zugkraftwagen 18 ton and Variants Famo ‘Bulle’…: Nuts & Bolts
Sd.Kfz. 251/1 in Detail: WWP
Sd.Kfz. 7 in Detail: WWP
SdKfz 250: Wydawnictwo Militaria
SdKfz 250: Militar's
SdKfz 250 Alt - Neu: Archive Part 2: Total Detail
SdKfz 250 –Groundpower Special Issue Nov.: Ground Power
SdKfz 250 vol. 1: Wydawnictwo Militaria
SdKfz 250/1 Alt: GD Living History: Total Detail
SdKfz 250/1 to 250/12: Ian Allan press
SdKfz 251 in Polish Museums – Militaria in Detail 1: Wydawnictwo Militaria
SdKfz 252, 253 & Early 250: Archive Part 1: Total Detail

There's a couple of others that deal with them in part like the Tech Intel volumes and the Kubinka Photo Album Vol 1 but those would be the main ones.
I certainly don't think you'd be disappointed if you bought the Ryton's Schutzenpanzer, but i can certainly appreciate your financial constraints and your desire to see your money go to the best place possible. If I can help you get the best bang for your buck and benefit from where I think my money could've been better spent, then I'm more than happy to.
This is probably a conversation better had elsewhere though, so if you want to email me at ssjpeiper@yahoo.com, feel free to do so.

Allan